Fear of being a landlord

[Scott H.]

I really buy into the whole building wealth through real estate philosophy, but I am not sure I have the personality to be a landlord. I worry about everything, the biggest being liability and being sued for some reason. I tend to think the worst, thus cause myself to second guess most of my decisions. Any advice for getting through this mental roadblock when it comes to real estate investing? Should I give up on the whole rental house thing? Go flipping or notes route? 

[Jill F.]

I worked my entire professional life as a software engineer and I stuck with it even though it wasn't my passion because the job paid well and let me be part-time from home and because I was too risk averse. Now for the first time, I love my job-- I love being a landlord. The risk of being sued is always present (even as a home owner) but it can be mitigated by insurance, planning, and defensible business practices.  

When you own your own business, you find out what you really value because you get to decide how you spend your time and money.

I truly enjoy building financial security for my family while providing GREAT service to a market where even average service is hard to find. The fact that we actually respect our tenants sets us apart from many others operating in the affordable housing space. 

Your values rather than personality will play a bigger role in determining whether self managing properties is a good fit for you. Being a landlord isn't the right path for everyone and as others have pointed out, there are lots of ways to make money in real estate. But if self-managing buy-and-holds is the right path for you then don't let your fears stop you from realizing a dream. You might want to google risk and cognitive errors-- most people really suck at assessing risk.